1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fields of (I) pollution control, (II) water supply and (III) product separation and recovery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
I. In the field of pollution control, it more particularly relates to the treatment of mixed industrial waste waters, segregated industrial waste streams, packing house wastes, fish processing wastes, chemical and petrochemical wastes, mining wastes, metal finishing wastes, water base paint wastes, nuclear wastes, photographic film processing wastes, and general sewage wastes.
Specific examples from the field of Pollution control include the following:
1. In the case of segregated industrial waste streams, metal finishing and paint wastes, this invention makes it possible to reconcentrate these segregated wastes in such a way that they may be returned to the industrial process stream, thereby recovering valuable materials. Examples of this type of application include the recovery of metal phosphates from corrosion proofing processes (e.g. Parkerizing) chromic acid, nickel sulfamate, nickel fluoborate, copper pyrophosphate, zinc chloride and similar substances from plating rinse solutions, (R-18, C-9, C-15, C-17, C-18, C-19) and the recovery of latex, emulsion and electro-deposited paint residues from paint rinse and spray booth waters. (C-9, C-15, C-17 & C-18) PA1 2. In the field of pulp and paper, it permits the recovery and reuse of processing waters, the removal of color and BOD causing constituents, the recovery and concentration of by-products such as polysaccharides and lignosulfonates. (R-1, R-3, R-17, R-21, C-3, C-15, C-17, C-18) PA1 3. In the field of nuclear wastes, it permits the recovery and concentration of dissolved radioactive substances from laundry water, floor washing solutions, boiler blow-down water and any other solutions containing dissolved radioactive substances. (C-15, C-17, C-18) It also permits the recycling of high quality water for further uses, such as in laundry facilities at nuclear installations. PA1 4. In the case of the treatment of general sewage wastes, it permits the production of high quality, essentially bacteria and virus free water, with a low concentration of total dissolved solids (TDS) and virtually no suspended solids (SS), suitable for virtually any type of re-use. (R-13, R-23) PA1 1. Chemical product separation and recovery. (R-17) PA1 2. Fermentation product separation and recovery. (R-17) PA1 3. Treatment of whey from cheese and cottage cheese manufacture, permitting the recovery, separation and purification of proteins, amino acids, lactic acid and sugars. (R-3, R-17, C-4, C-11) PA1 4. Extraction of protein from soybean and other vegetable protein products. (R-17, C-4) PA1 5. Concentration of skimmed milk. (R-17, C-4) PA1 6. Concentration of citrus, pineapple and other juices. (R-17) PA1 7. Treatment of soft and alcoholic beverage streams. (R-17) PA1 8. The recovery of water soluble oils, emulsions and synthetic coolants from metal working waste waters. (C-5, C-10, C-15, C-16, C-17, C-18) PA1 1. Flat sheet devices PA1 2. Hollow Fiber, as taught by Mahon (PJ-10) and Geory (PJ-11) and practiced by Du Pont. (C-2) (R-19, R-20) PA1 3. Spiral Module devices in which flat membranes, with the required separators and spacers, are rolled into a cylindrical form, as taught by Merten (PJ-12, and 13, PA-6), Michaels (PJ-14), Westmoreland (PA-7), Bray (PA-8 and PJ-15) and Shirokawa (PJ-16), and as practiced by Universal Oil Products, Eastman Chemical and Envirogenycs Div. of Aerojet General Corp. (R-3, R-20, R-21) (C-1) PA1 4. Internal pressure tubular designs, as taught by Signa (PJ-17) and Loeb (PA-9), and as practiced by Universal Oil Products (formerly Havens Int'1.,) Abcor, Patterson-Candy, Westinghouse, Union Carbide, Universal Water Corporation, Philco-Ford, Aerojet-General. (C-3, C-4, C-5, C-6, C-7, C-8, C-9, C-10, C-11, C-12, R-9, R-14, R-3, R-21, R-23) PA1 5. External Pressure Tubular designs as taught by Shippey (PA-10), Block (PA-11, PJ-18 & 19), Saito (PJ-20) and Baldon (PJ-21), and as practiced by Rev-O-Pak, Inc., Subsidiary of Raypak, Inc. and Sumitomo Heavy Industries. (R-22, C-13, C-14, C-15, C-16, C-17, C-18, C-19, C-21) PA1 1. Tensile stress on membrane due to hoop stress on supporting tubing. PA1 2. Stress concentration at header ends of tube bundles. PA1 3. Catastrophic system failure due to rupture of pressure tubing. PA1 4. Relatively low operating pressures due to limited burst strength of tubes. PA1 5. Costly internal tensioning rod, which also causes stress concentrations. PA1 6. Relatively low "packing density" (square meters of membrane per cubic meter of cell bank.) PA1 7. Replacement or factory overhaul of entire module due to failure of one tube (required in most designs.) PA1 8. Inability to effect single pass desalination of sea water. PA1 9. High residue on combustion of spent tubes used in nuclear applications. PA1 10. Costly high pressure series-parallel manifolding for high volume systems. PA1 1. Brittle small diameter ceramic cores often break during shipping, handling, installation and, occasionally, in service. PA1 2. Large number of seals increases the chance of seal failue. [There are 133 separate core seals in a standard 7-core, 18.5 foot (5.64 meter) pressure vessel.] PA1 3. Standard design with 7 or 19 cores in parallel and six strings in series makes assembly nd installation difficult, requires 4 men to insert or remove a bundle of cores. PA1 4. Large longitudinal and radial compression forces increase required thickness of core substrate, increasing weight, with resultant increase in material and transportation costs. PA1 5. Hand wound turbulator wires or springs used on cores increase assembly costs. PA1 6. "Dead space" between cores reduces hydraulic efficiency. PA1 7. "Dead space" also increases the hold up volume, limiting the "degree of concentration" or "concentration ratio" in many applications EQU (Concentration Ratio=Volume of feed/Volume of Final Concentrate) PA1 8. Relatively low "packing density" of membrane. PA1 9. Large clear working space required opposite "service end" of machine. Clear space must be approximately as large as the length (and width) of the cell module, resulting in inefficiencies in facility lay-out and utilization of plant space. PA1 10. Ceramic cores with uniformly circular cross sections are an absolute necessity or the core will not pass through the ring die. In cases of moderate "elipticity" of the core, a non-uniform layer of membrane results. PA1 11. Many small parts, connectors, turbulators and seals are required on cores, increasing complexity and chance of failure. PA1 12. Seal failure due to high viscous drag separates "slip joint" connectors, resulting in system failure while in service. PA1 13. High volume of inorganic residue creates disposal problem in nuclear applications. PA1 14. Leakage occasionally occurs around the complex permeate collector due to imperfections in the seals or to defects or cracks in the permeate collector. PA1 15. Costly investment castings required on ends of pressure vessels. PA1 16. Costly high pressure series-parallel manifolding required for high volume systems.
(All references are to literature listed in the BIBLIOGRAPHY OF KNOWN PRIOR ART hereinbelow.)
II. In the field of water supply, it relates to the production of potable water from sea water, brackish water and industrial wastes. It has also been used to produce high quality industrial water for specialized purposes such as boiler make-up, semiconductor manufacture, use in nuclear reactor test and operation, pharmaceutical manufacture and other applications requiring very low levels of suspended solids and total dissolved solids. It has also been employed in the re-use and recycling of industrial process waters, permitting "closed drain" operations. (R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4, R-9, R-10, R-13, R-14, R-15, R-19, R-20, R-21, R-22, C-1, C-2, C-3, C-5, C-6, C-7, C-8, C-12, C-14, C-15, C-16, C-17, C-18)
III. In addition to recovery of substances from segregated industrial wastes, mentioned under I, above, specific examples of product separation, concentration and recovery include the following: